ABC’s The Bachelor dove right into its third week. Once again, viewers were gifted with lots of feuding, tears and of course, kissing from bachelor Ben Higgins and his group of women (Note: it appears that Ben wasn’t able to deliver on his promise to not spend his whole season making out with all the women like his predecessors aka Juan Pablo and Chris Soules).
After host Chris Harrison revealed that Ben would be taking two lucky ladies on a one-on-one date, as well as another group on a group date, it was revealed that Lauren B. would be the first one to get some quality time with Ben.
Not too long after, Ben whisked her away to a nearby airport, where the two got an aerial shot of Los Angeles in a small, stunt airplane. Although Lauren B. is a flight attendant, she still managed to convince Ben that she was nervous about going in the small plane so that he would hold on to her tighter. Though Ben and Lauren mostly spent the trip kissing, they did take a second to get some air and look out at the bachelor mansion as they passed overhead. After a dip in a secluded hot tub, Lauren and Ben proceeded to dinner where they both talked about their lives. Ben went on to explain the serious health scare his father went through a few years back, in which Lauren quietly replied, “I want to meet your family.” Unfortunately, while she claims (in confessional) that she didn’t “mean it like that,” Ben was evidently taken back by how forward she was. Nonetheless, she was able to make a joke out of it and ended up getting the date rose from Ben. In confessional Ben claimed, “Tonight feels like how I’d want the first date to be with my wife.” Despite this sounding promising, I can guarantee we will hear plenty of statements very similar to this from Ben in the weeks to come.
Meanwhile, back at the mansion, the other girls were anxiously awaiting their chance to get some time with Ben. Fortunately, 12 of the girls were given the exciting news that they would be joining him on the group date, which ended up being at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Here, U.S. National Women’s Soccer Team stars Alex Morgan and Kelley O’Hara joined the girls and helped Ben split them up into two teams for a soccer match. Unfortunately, the girls didn’t paint the best image in terms of their athletic abilities, as Kelley and Alex were clearly unimpressed with their lack of foot skills and general soccer knowledge.
Nonetheless, the girls broke off into teams of 6 and went head-to-head in a battle to win a private party with Ben. During the game, Emily showed off some surprising talent while being her team’s goalie and even got an on-field hug from Ben (who is undoubtedly stunned). In the end, the game went into a sudden death, and Amber scored the winning goal.
So while Amber’s team headed off to a slightly more intimate (still 6 women) evening with Ben, the other ladies were sent back to the mansion in tears.
At the date, Olivia was (unsurprisingly) the first one to ask Ben for some private time. Despite knowing she was already despised amongst most of the other women, Olivia decided it was a good idea to lead Ben to the balcony above the other contestants and flaunt her alone time with him (she literally yelled down to make sure the other women could see them). To be honest, from her confessional it seems that Olivia is more in it to win than to fall in love. She wants to beat the other women and will evidently do whatever it takes to do so.
Afterwards, Olivia returned to the group and was immediately taken to the side by Jami who lets her know that the other girls were criticizing her toes – I am not making this up. Fortunately, Olivia also found the humor in the situation and proclaimed in confessional that she can agree her toes are ugly.
Meanwhile, the other girls got some one-on-one time with Ben, including Bachelor alum Amber who hadn’t gotten any quality time with him until then. In addition, Lace once again proved she is a bit crazy, and I would even go as far as saying that she definitely gave off some Ashley S. vibes. To Olivia’s dismay, Ben ended up giving the group date rose to Amber, who was overjoyed to receive her first date rose in her Bachelor career. Nonetheless, Olivia explained in confessional that she is still confident in her connection with Ben because he “pushed off” on her leg when he stood up – which is apparently a secret signal that Ben is sending just to her (her words, not his).
The second one-on-one date was given to Jubilee, who was previously heard complaining about not being Ben’s type – i.e. always cheery and simple. Ben comes to pick her up in a chopper, in which Jubilee half-jokingly exclaimed, “Does anyone else want to my date?” Ben seemed to just let the comment slide, and they both headed off to a day at the spa.
Jubilee definitely sticks out amongst the competitors, as she is much more unfiltered with Ben. However, he seemed to enjoy her humor even when she called him “white boy.” As per usual, the date ended with a romantic dinner, where Jubilee opened up about having no living relatives – which lead to Ben awarding her the date rose. At this point, it’s hard to say whether Ben will keep her around for her quirkiness or if it will be what eventually sends her home.
The next morning the other women are shocked to see that Jubilee was still in the mansion and even had a rose keeping her safe from the next elimination. Unfortunately, Jubilee has seemingly joined Olivia amongst the top ranking hated women in the house (in the other competitors’ eyes).
That night, Ben greeted the women for the third cocktail party and rose ceremony of the season. Here, Ben explained that two of his family friends had died in a plane crash the day before, and therefore, he was feeling a “little down.” Nonetheless, he proceeded and began engaging in some one-on-one chats with most of the ladies.
Yet again, Olivia was the first one to grab Ben. So, right after Ben announced the tragedy of his family friends, Olivia somehow thought it would be suitable to complain (and cry) about her ugly legs. Fortunately, Ben finally clued in on Olivia’s off-putting behavior and admitted in confessional that it wasn’t necessarily the conversation he was looking to have at that particular moment in time.
Shortly after, Jubilee took Ben off to the side and ended up giving him a massage to try and comfort him – which he thoroughly appreciated and enjoyed. Unfortunately, this triggered some bad blood from the other women who didn’t feel it was fair she was taking up so much of Ben’s time even though she already had a rose.
Amber ends up confronting Jubilee about the situation, but Jubilee proceeds to storm off. Ben sees this and goes to console Jubilee. Shortly after, Amber tries to explain the situation to an emotional Jubilee and Ben but ends up somewhat throwing shade at Jubilee in front of Ben. However, he doesn’t let it slide and comes to Jubilee’s defense. Afterwards, he confessed, “I think I’m seeing sides of women I haven’t seen yet.”
Before the rose ceremony kicked off, Lace pulled Ben to the side. Here, she admitted that she has been “mad at herself” for being a bit crazy before and felt that she should go home so that she can work on herself. Unsurprisingly, Ben accepted her decision and sent her on her way.
After Ben had announced Lace’s decision to leave, he went on to reveal the ladies who would be receiving roses this week. In the end, the two contestants who were sent on their way was: Shushanna Mkrtychyan and Jami Letain, leaving 14 women to fight it out for Ben’s love.
Next Week on The Bachelor:
Ben takes the remaining women to Las Vegas, where three of them will eventually face elimination.
Bonus for Bachelor Nation:
It has been revealed that Lace will be joining the cast of season 3 of Bachelor in Paradise – hopefully, she will have worked on herself enough by that time to give love another shot.
You can catch week 3 of The Bachelor next Monday, January 25 on ABC.